Mayes 47-year-old cold case finally closed

A 16-year-old Wellington typist who disappeared 47 years ago has officially been pronounced dead today.

Wendy Mayes has not been since September 1961 when she went to meet a man named John Maltby at a cafe about modelling work.

Police believed Maltby murdered Miss Mayes the night she disappeared but Maltby was not charged and his body was found washed up on the beach at Island Bay a week after Miss Mayes went missing, Radio New Zealand reported today.

An inquest into her death by Wellington Coroner Garry Evans was held at the request of a private investigator acting on behalf of her family.

Mr Evans found Miss Mayes died at the hands of one person but ruled there was not enough evidence to show who.

- NZPA